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A new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) discloses that Southern women experience greater wage inequality than that of the rest of the country, with the average woman experiencing a loss of $6,392 in 2014. The report, with data sourced from 13 Southern states as well as the District of Columbia, analyzed seven areas in women’s lives, such as poverty, political participation, reproductive rights, and working conditions. It estimates that it will take more than 200 years for West Virginia and South Carolina to achieve gender equality in state legislatures, twice the time it will take to close the global gender pay gap. None of the states received an overall grade higher than C-. On a positive note, southern women were more likely to have access to affordable childcare, with half of the Southern states in the top 10 list of highest-quality and affordable childcare. 80% of black Southern mothers are the primary earners in their families, thus resulting in a higher number of female-owned businesses.